There is always a need, in underwater surveillance, for the data-gathering buoy to establish "air" contact; that is, be able to raise an antenna to allow signal transmission to, or receipt from, an aircraft overhead. In many of the extreme northern or southern parts of the globe, this is almost always difficult due to the thin ice covering (6-18 inches) over the water. The surest way to "plant" a buoy is to send someone out onto the ice to drill a proper-sized hole and manually deploy the system. This method does have many weak points, such as the amount of labor and time necessary and the safety of the crewman to name a few. Buoys launched from the air may not ever deploy through the ice, from the top down, and, until the instant invention, buoys launched from beneath the ice would either fail to break through or damage sensitive components in a powered attempt (such as when submarine launched) to do so.